Sacredstar
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Joined: 10 October 2004
Location: United Kingdom
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Posts: 21
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| Posted: 18 October 2004 at 1:51pm | IP Logged
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Scientists find way to make us slaves
London Sunday Times| Oct 17 2004
ALDOUS HUXLEY may have got it right. In Brave New
World, his classic futuristic novel, the author
envisaged a society divided into castes from Alpha at
the top to Epsilon at the bottom.
The Epsilons were content to plod on with tedious
tasks, their brains numbed by drugs. Until now this
has been the stuff of science fiction.
However, experiments conducted on rhesus
monkeys have shown for the first time that animal
behaviour can be permanently altered, turning the
subjects from aggressive to compliant creatures.
The scientists did so by blocking the effects of a
gene in the brain called D2, which cut off the link
between the monkeys� motivation and perceived
reward.Humans have an identical gene.
The project was led by Barry Richmond, a
government neurobiologist at America�s
National Institute of Mental Health, who has detailed
the findings in the journal Nature Neuroscience this
month.
The work shows how the monkeys could be made to
work enthusiastically for long periods without the
need for a treat.
The experiments involved getting monkeys to
operate levers in response to colour changes on
screens in front of them. Normally they work hardest
and fastest with the fewest mistakes if they think a
reward for the work is imminent.
However, Richmond�s team found that they could
make the monkeys work their hardest and fastest all
the time, without any complaint or sign of slacking,
just by manipulating D2 so that they forgot about the
expectation of reward.
Most people are motivated to work hard and well only
by the expectation of reward, whether it�s a pay
cheque or a word of praise, said Richmond. In these
experiments we found we could remove that link and
create a situation where repetitive, hard work would
continue without any reward.
see publications for more information and also other
thread 'Hooking Our World on Drugs'.
__________________
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